Walter Susskind
This famed conductor, born Jan Süsskind, studied composition with Josef Suk and Alois Hába, and piano with Karel Hoffmeister at the Prague State Conservatory. His training in conducting was undertaken with Szell at the German Academy of Music.
In 1931, he premiered a composition and appeared in concert as a pianist at the Prague Mozarteum. His conducting debut was made in 1934 with a production of La traviata at the German Opera, where he had been serving as an assistant to Szell. He composed his Four Songs for Voice and String Quartet in 1935 and continued his piano activity with the Czech Trio from 1933 until the German occupation in 1938. The trio then escaped to London and remained together until 1942.
Süsskind re-activated his conducting as music director of the Carl Rosa Opera Company (1943 - 1945) and made his orchestral debut conducting the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (1945). After becoming a British citizen in 1946, he went to Glasgow to serve as music director for the Scottish Orchestra (later the Scottish National Orchestra).
In 1953, Süsskind moved to Australia to direct the Victoria Symphony Orchestra in Melbourne until 1955. During that period, he made tours of America and the Far East. Then, moving again, he directed the Toronto Symphony Orchestra from 1956 to 1965, giving the Canadian premieres of Bruckner and Mahler symphonies, and founded the National Youth Orchestra of Canada in 1958. Meanwhile, he was music director for the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado (1962 - 1968) and later, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (1968 - 1975), which Süsskind built into a major institution, and the Mississippi River Festival in Edwardsville, IL (1969 - 1975). From 1968 through 1975, Süsskind taught at the University of Southern Illinois. His conducting students included Leonard Slatkin and Gerhardt Zimmermann. His compositions at this time included Nine Slovak Sketches for Orchestra and a Passacaglia for Timpani and Chamber Orchestra (1977).
As guest conductor, Süsskind led major orchestras in Europe, the U.K., and North America. He was the music advisor and principal guest conductor of the Cincinnati Orchestra from 1978 until his passing in 1980.
Süsskind's discography contains more than 55 albums and performances with some of the most noted performers of the twentieth century: Jascha Heifetz, Arthur Rubenstein, Glenn Gould, Dennis Brain, Pierre Fournier, Joan Hammond, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Kirsten Flagstad, Lili Krauss, Szymon Goldberg, Yehudi Menuhin, Artur Schnabel, Leonard Pennario, Shura Cherkassky, Neveu, Tito Gobbi, Victoria de Los Angeles, and many others.
© TiVo
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Dvorák: Violin Concerto & Piano Concerto (Remastered 2024)
Ruggiero Ricci, Rudolf Firkusny, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Walter Susskind
Concertos - Released by Vox on 1 Jan 1975
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Dvořák: Cello Concerto in B Minor, Silent Woods & Other Orchestral Works (Remastered 2024)
Zara Nelsova, Ruggiero Ricci, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Walter Susskind
Classical - Released by Vox on 1 Jan 1975
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Smetana: Má vlast, JB 1:112 (Remastered 2024)
St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Walter Susskind
Classical - Released by Vox on 1 Jan 1975
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Béla Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle, Cantata Profana
The New Symphony Orchestra of London, Walter Susskind
Opera - Released by Praga Digitals on 1 Jun 2017
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Schubert: Symphony No. 6 'The Little', Symphony No. 4 'Tragic' (Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt Edition 2, Vol. 5)
London Symphony Orchestra, Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt, Walter Susskind
Classical - Released by Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. on 1 Jan 1959
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Vieuxtemps: Concerto pour violon No. 4 (Mono Version)
Yehudi Menuhin, Walter Susskind, Philharmonia Orchestra
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1953
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Holst: The Planets - Smetana: Má Vlast
Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, Ronald Arnatt Chorale, Walter Susskind, Missouri Singers
Classical - Released by Vox Box on 1 Jan 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Milstein Masterpieces for Violin and Orchestra (High Definition Remaster 2022)
Nathan Milstein, Walter Susskind, The Concert Arts Orchestra
Classical - Released by NewConcept Classical Remasters on 27 Dec 2022
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
The Masterpieces - Holst: The Planets, Op. 32
Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, Walter Susskind
Classical - Released by Menuetto Classics on 1 Jan 1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bruch: Violin Concerto No. 1, Op. 26 - Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 1, K. 207
Tibor Varga, Philharmonia Orchestra, Walter Susskind
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 6 Nov 2020
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bohuslav Martinů, Sergei Prokofiev, Ernő Dohnányi: Cello Concertos [In Memoriam János Starker]
Janos Starker, Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra, John Nelson, The Philharmonia, Walter Susskind
Concertos - Released by Praga Digitals on 1 Nov 2015
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Concerto for Two Violins and Strings in D minor
Arthur Grumiaux, Jean Pougnet, Boris Ord, Walter Susskind, Philharmonia String Orchestra
Classical - Released by Infinity on 3 Aug 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Niccolò Paganini Violin Concerto No.2
Nathan Milstein, Walter Susskind, Concerts Arts Orchestra
Classical - Released by In Vinyl We Trust on 30 Sep 2022
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dvořák: Cello Concerto in B Minor - Fauré: Elégie (Stereo Version)
Janos Starker, Philharmonia Orchestra, Walter Susskind
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1960
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Sibelius: Concerto pour violon, Op. 47 - Suk: 4 Pièces pour violon et piano, Op. 17 (Mono Version)
Ginette Neveu, Philharmonia Orchestra, Walter Susskind
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1957
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Shura Cherkassky Plays Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn & Liszt
Shura Cherkassky, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Walter Susskind
Classical - Released by Vox on 1 Jan 1999
4 étoiles du Monde de la Musique16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: The Messiah, HWV 56
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra, Walter Susskind
Classical - Released by Menuetto Classics on 1 Jan 1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bruch: Violin Concerto No.1 - Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto
Yehudi Menuhin, Philharmonia Orchestra, Walter Susskind
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 1 Oct 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sibelius: Concerto pour violon, Op. 47 - Suk: 4 Pièces pour violon et piano, Op. 17 (Mono Version)
Ginette Neveu, Philharmonia Orchestra, Walter Susskind
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1957
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart, Schubert: Symphonies
Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt, Walter Susskind
Classical - Released by Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. on 1 Aug 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The HMV Recordings (Recorded 1947-1952)
Moura Lympany, Philharmonia Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Rafael Kubelik, Herbert Menges, Walter Susskind
Classical - Released by APR on 25 Jul 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo